Today's lineups

Ian Desmond gets the night off after his crucial error last night, and Roger Bernadina will bat in the second spot as Cristian Guzman returns to the lineup and hits seventh. Alberto Gonzalez, who failed to get the go-ahead run in from third base with one out last night, will get his third straight start, this time at short for Desmond.

Hey Gang-the whole article I was quoting from is her:
http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/06/07/what-strasburg-means/
It's on Stras...a good read...
Now-what about Morse at 2nd base?Wasn't he an infielder originally?AG at short-although I believe we've been seeing why he's a bench player. Still...and suppose we win tonight-who'll speak for the team, with Ian on the pine?
Go Nats!!!

I certainly am glad to see for a change that players are being held accountable for STUPID mistakes. Oh, wait. This is Morgan back in CF. All is normal. Lookin forward to idiot base running and moronic throws again tonight!
Oh, wait. Maybe i will do something productive with my time instead.

What more does Michael Morse have to do? Nyjer has to sit, plain and simple. You can't call three months a "slump" anymore. If you do play him, he has to be in the 8th hole so that the pitcher is at the plate when he's picked off instead of a run producer.

If Riggleman doesn't take Njyer's job from him, Rizzo will take Riggleman's job at the end of the year.

Put Bernadina in center and Morse in right. Put Nyjer on the bench where he belongs. Who gives Pudge the sign to steal or does he go on his own? I'd like to see some fire in the dugout once in awhile... All I wanted was to be competative.. Not even close now..

So, Desmond gets the night off for being not aggressive enough on that DP ball last night and ruining the game for the phenom.... while Morgan gets to play CF and bat leadoff after getting picked off first (again) and throwing to the wrong base in the same critical inning that Desmond is being punished for?

Hey Gang-and this line from CBS Sports lead article on Stras last night:
"He's still so good that you don't want to take your eyes off him. But his team is so bad right now that your eyes hurt at the sight of them." (Danny Knobler).
Nice to see we're getting natinal coverage, eh? He ends his piece with this nice bit:
" Who do we want to see more than him?
"He's probably going to make the All-Star team every year from here on out," Hudson said.He probably is. And we're probably going to keep watching him, every chance we get.
Even if it means watching the Nationals, too"
And FWIW-I think we win tonight, too!
Go Nats!

Regardless of how pitiful Gonzalez is at the plate... I still like the move. Desmond's blunders in the field have not been overcome by what he has done at the plate lately. He has had plenty of playing time to pull himself out of this slump, maybe a few days off will help. I say give Gonzalez a couple days out there, see if he can get something going with a few starts in a row. His stats at the plate aren't much worse than Desmond's are anyway... Desmond has actually struck out more frequently this season.

And yes... Bernadina to center (and lead-off), Morse to Right, and Kennedy to Second.

Regardless of how pitiful Gonzalez is at the plate... I still like the move. Desmond's blunders in the field have not been overcome by what he has done at the plate lately. He has had plenty of playing time to pull himself out of this slump, maybe a few days off will help. I say give Gonzalez a couple days out there, see if he can get something going with a few starts in a row. His stats at the plate aren't much worse than Desmond's are anyway... Desmond has actually struck out more frequently this season.

And yes... Bernadina to center (and lead-off), Morse to Right, and Kennedy to Second.

This is getting weirder and weirder... the refusal to sit Morgan no matter how bad he is at the plate, no matter how many times he throws the ball to the wrong base, no matter how many times he gets picked off...

I mean, when he reached on that error to start the game last night, and Hudson threw the ball to first about 8 times... I know exactly what Hudson was thinking... something along the lines of "I know that if I keep throwing over there he will be picked off eventually"...

And, the sudden infatuation with Gonzo is bizarre... the dude can play some infield defense, but he is pretty worthless at the plate... I guess they are trying to shore up the infield defense at least on a one day or temporary basis... and I can't blame them... but Gonzo is another zero offense guy off the bench, like Wil Nieves... ugh...

oh well, I do like the move to have Bernadina at the top of the order, I can find some positive here! And I'm still rooting for you guys to start playing some ball!

My guess is Desmond is not being punished, he's being given a night off to let him decompress from all the errors. After a while they build on themselves. What is the point in punishing people for errors that are not the result of lack of effort?

>What is the point in punishing people for errors that are not the result of lack of effort?

Posted by: markfromark

A lack of fundamentals is a lack of effort. If he's such a gifted athlete, he should be able to remedy his footwork after thousands of ground balls. Ray Knight's said it a bunch of times. It's not like he's physically incapable of making plays. So if he's not physically incapable, then it's a lack of effort on his part because he hasn't mastered how to field and throw properly.

Brue,
Does the same apply for Zimm on his sidearm grenade launchers from third?

I'm taking the night off from the Nats tonight, vs sinkerballer Derek Lowe (actually, probably would give the tall right-handed Morse some trouble, so tonight for Nyjer, but no more!)
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A lack of fundamentals is a lack of effort. If he's such a gifted athlete, he should be able to remedy his footwork after thousands of ground balls. Ray Knight's said it a bunch of times. It's not like he's physically incapable of making plays. So if he's not physically incapable, then it's a lack of effort on his part because he hasn't mastered how to field and throw properly.

>Brue,
Does the same apply for Zimm on his sidearm grenade launchers from third?

Absolutely. It's lazy, and not fundamental going sidearm the way he does. Personally, it looks like he's trying to be cute when he does that. What, you think I'm picking on people or playing favorites? You don't know me. I'll call anybody out. This team hasn't won anything the last four years. Nobody's exempt.